Ebbett gives Pirates OT win; AGAIN

Portland, ME – It’s a win and the Portland Pirates will take them anyway they can get them.

Playing in their fifth-straight overtime game, Andrew Ebbett gave the Pirates a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Phantoms in front of 6,098 at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Friday night.

So far, in 10 contests this season, the Pirates needed an extra session in half of their games, with their only regulation win coming on October 6, 2007 in a 4-1 win against Lowell.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played five overtime games in a row,” said Pirates forward Andrew Ebbett. “It’s a little too close for comfort, but it’s a good sign for our team because we’re getting the two points.”

The Pirates gained the 1-0 lead late in the first period when Jason King, just assigned to Portland on Tuesday, scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season.

Pirates’ forward Stephen Dixon tried to stuff the original shot on net from Andy Schneider by Phantoms’ goaltender Brian Boucher, but it squirted wide to Jason King at the right post, who banged to puck into a wide-open net with 1:03 left in the period.

Philadelphia tied the game at 2:39 of the second period when Kyle Greentree found the five-hole on Pirates’ netminder Jonas Hiller with a quick wrist shot from the left face-off dot.

With Jussi Timonen serving a minor penalty for holding, Pete Zingoni was called for slashing at 17:37 of the period to give the Pirates on 5-on-3 advantage.

With three seconds left on Timonen’s penalty, Aaron Rome, streaking toward the net from the far side, connected on Bobby Ryan’s cross-ice pass, beating Boucher under the crossbar, giving the Pirates a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.

The Phantoms’ repaid the Pirates back with a 5-on-3 chance of their own midway into the final period when Andy Schneider and Petteri Wirtanen were called for minor penalties only 48 seconds apart.

Just nine seconds after Schneider came out of the penalty box, Darren Reid tied the game at 2-2 as he connected on a one-timer in front of Hiller at 11:19 of the third period.

“I think it (power play) was coming, we had our chances and we scored so we knew they were going to come back,” said Ebbett.

Just 59 seconds into the overtime period, Ebbett finished off an odd-man rush from Jason King and Brendan Mikkelson, with a snap shot, beating Boucher over his blocker.
Notes: Earlier in the week, the Pirates signed left wing Gordie Dwyer to a 25-game professional try-out. Dwyer spent part of last season in Sweden. He last played in North America for the Lowell Devils, scoring four assists in 17 games.